Mediagazer: Roku announces OS 11, coming soon, with a curated “what to watch” hub and custom screensavers; Roku's app will add info about content and where to stream it (Catie Keck/The Verge)

9:40 AM ET, March 22, 2022

Top News:

Mstyslav Chernov / Associated Press:

An AP journalist recounts the 20 harrowing days of covering Mariupol under Russian attack; the last two journalists in Mariupol, both from the AP, have now left — MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.

Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:
How two Ukrainian AP journalists documented the war's devastation while managing sporadic contact with editors and dealing with Russian government smears

Discussion: Financial Times, @maxseddon, @maxseddon, Thats Another Fine Mess, @natashabertrand, Insider, @yurikageyama, @photospice, @verambergen, @vanityfair, The Week, @miriamelder, WHDH-TV and @miriamelder

The Information:

Memo: three of BuzzFeed News' top editors, including EIC Mark Schoofs, are resigning as the division seeks voluntary buyouts to avoid layoffs — Three of BuzzFeed News top editors, including the publication's editor-in-chief Mark Schoofs, resigned as the company prepares to make more cuts to the news division.

Discussion: @catherinekimny, @markdistef, thedailybeast.com, @markstenberg3, @markstenberg3, @annaknicolaou, @mitrakalita, @jasonabbruzzese, @alexweprin, @benyt, @joshsternberg and @tomnamako

Will Feuer / Dow Jones Newswires:
BuzzFeed reports $40.4M in Q4 net income, up from $32.2M the year before, and revenue of $145.7M, up 18% YoY, driven by 33% YoY growth in content revenue

Discussion: The Wrap, @loudmouthjulia, @pkafka, @buzzfeedpr, @loudmouthjulia, @willfoia and Business Wire

Max Tani / Politico:

Sources: Reuters staff are frustrated by Reuters' partnership with Tass, a Russian wire service that's published unverified information about the war in Ukraine — Employees at one of the most well-known news wire services are privately fuming over their company's ongoing partnership …

Discussion: @sanhotree, @zoryalondonsk, @kevinrothrock, @michaelcdeibert, @runasand, @melaniepodolyak, @maxwelltani, Columbia Journalism Review and @jgriffiths

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

CEO Bob Chapek tells staff that Disney made a mistake by not publicly opposing Florida's “Don't Say Gay” bill; Disney considers more LGBT-aware content for kids — Executive promises ‘lasting change’ after employee backlash over Disney's handling of Florida bill

Discussion: Bloomberg, Deadline, @deadline, @jbflint, @schmoofy, @mgsiegler, @benmullin, @scottgustin, @benfritz and @erichschwartzel

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
A look at the fallout between Bob Chapek and Bob Iger as Disney restructures for a world where streaming dominates and legacy distribution models fade away

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Media-measurement giant Nielsen says it has turned down a bid by a private equity consortium, after reports of a potential acquisition caused its stock to soar — Nielsen Holdings PLC has turned down a bid by a private-equity consortium to buy the media-measurement giant …

Discussion: Axios, @mediaevan, @danprimack, insideradio.com, MediaPost, Adweek, Barrett Media, The Wrap and Deadline

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Around 30 independent Australian news sites instigate a 24-hour “news freeze” for Tuesday as part of a #WaitingOnZuck campaign asking Meta to make news deals — Independent Australian news sites are instigating a “news freeze” on Tuesday to protest big tech's failures to pay for their content.

Discussion: Mediaweek, @simonowens, @coreypein and OUTInPerth

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

Adtech company TripleLift plans to acquire Zurich-based 1plusX, which helps publishers and advertisers reach audiences using first-party data, for around $150M — Switzerland-based business helps companies use first-party data, which they have collected themselves—an increasingly important strategy amid tightening privacy regulations

Discussion: PR Newswire, TripleLift, Beet.TV, @triplelifthq, @aripap, AdExchanger, MediaPost and Next TV

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat:

Applied XL, founded by two computational journalists to provide real-time data, raises a $3.5M seed led by Hearst Ventures, with STAT and others participating — New York-headquartered Applied XL, a startup that focuses on building algorithms to help enterprises with real-time data tracking …

Discussion: Axios, MediaPost, @fpmarconi, Applied XL, STAT, @kerrymflynn, @newlab, @rickberke, @rosemaryhgraves, Crain's New York Business and @kerrymflynn

Max Seddon / @maxseddon:

Russia's Channel One responds to Marina Ovsyannikova's on-air protest by calling her a British spy who “betrayed [her] country and all of us ... for a bonus” — Channel One has finally responded to Marina Ovsyannikova's on-air protest. Kirill Kleimyonov, head of the news division, accuses her of being a British spy. He said she has “betrayed [her] country and all of us ... coldly, duplicitously, for a bonus.” https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: Insider, @jeffgoodell, @kevinrothrock, @paulachertok, @jonsopel, @juliaioffe, @jackeparrock, Mediaite and The Wrap

Carolyn Giardina / Hollywood Reporter:

IATSE urges the Academy to reconsider its decision not to present eight Oscars live, calling the change “detrimental” to the Oscars' “fundamental purpose” — “If the winners walk away with the same trophy, then the winners deserve the same recognition,” …

Discussion: IATSE, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline and IndieWire

Sasha Urban / Variety: A look at the Academy's Screening Room, which streams contender films for 9,573 Oscar voters globally; members from 82 countries sent in ballots this year

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

Apple drops the option to buy and rent content in the Apple TV app for Android TV and Google TV; sources: until recently Apple was exempt from Google's IAP cut — Rasmus Larsen, writing for FlatpanelsHD: … I can confirm via, as they say, sources familiar with the matter …

Discussion: MediaPost, The Verge, FlatpanelsHD, 9to5Mac, @reckless, @reckless, @drbarnard, @johnkoetsier, @timsweeneyepic, Next TV, Input, Cord Cutters News, Gizmodo, The Streamable, MacRumors and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Apple announces expanded creator tools for Podcasts Connect, including follower counts and the ability to upload mp3 files as subscriber-only audio — Apple Podcasts is rolling out new features to incentivize podcasters to offer paid subscriptions to listeners on the app.

Discussion: Variety and Podnews, more at Techmeme »

Catie Keck / The Verge:

Roku announces OS 11, coming soon, with a curated “what to watch” hub and custom screensavers; Roku's app will add info about content and where to stream it — Hello there, customizable Photo Streams — Roku device owners will soon have a whole host of new personalization features …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Engadget and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK judge rules journalist Chris Mullin doesn't have to turn over his notes to the police; his investigation helped overturn convictions in 1974 IRA bombings

Discussion: @gerryhassan, @bat020, @bondhack, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @kevin_maguire

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Staffers at Creators Media Group, Ukraine's largest publisher of tech news sites, recount their experiences as they continue to file stories, but now about war

Discussion: @wturvill, @wturvill and VentureBeat

Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:
Tencent Music says it will pursue a secondary listing in Hong Kong, which could reportedly raise $5B, after reporting an 8.7% YoY drop in its Q4 revenue

Discussion: Benzinga

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
DirecTV, which plans to drop OANN, starts offering Fox Nation as a “premium add-on” for its subscribers; Fox Weather will debut on DirecTV Stream on March 29

Discussion: Media Play News, Next TV, TVNewser and The Wrap

Bloomberg:
Sources: the UK could name a new Ofcom chair this week; candidates include Conservative House of Lords members Ed Vaizey, Stephen Gilbert, and Michael Grade

Discussion: @kitty_donaldson, @martinsfp and @martinsfp

Earlier Picks:

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
The BBC says it had a weekly non-UK news audience of 456M in 2021, up 18M from 2020, and its global audience is set to hit 500M in 2022, its 100th anniversary

Philipp Reissfelder / Associated Press:
German broadcaster RTL hires a Ukrainian presenter to host a daily 10-minute Ukrainian-language news show for those who fled their homeland after Russia invaded

Discussion: @brianstelter, @joyhenningsenmd and @ninatypewriter

Ruby Cramer / Politico:
A profile of Ukraine-based Black US journalist Terrell Starr, who has gained thousands of Twitter followers by giving highly personal accounts of the war

Discussion: @drcolleenmurphy, @roxyleestone, @maragay, @joyannreid, @gregjaffe, @ameshiacross, @maximeristavi, @juliaioffe, @atlanticcouncil, @politico, @jayrosen_nyu, @terrelljstarr and @alivelshi

Andrew McCormick / Columbia Journalism Review:
Eight journalists, including the AP's Kathy Gannon and filmmaker Sebastian Junger, reflect on covering the war in Afghanistan and lessons learned

Discussion: @declassifiedaus, @pagossman, @rafiazakaria and @pagossman

From Techmeme:

Alphabet:
Alphabet Q1: revenue up 15% YoY to $80.5B, net income up 57% to $23.7B, Google Cloud revenue up 28% to $9.6B, and headcount down 5%; GOOG jumps 11%+ after hours

Microsoft:
Microsoft Q3: revenue up 17% YoY to $61.9B, net income up 20% to $21.9B, Office Commercial revenue up 13%, LinkedIn revenue up 10%; MSFT jumps 4%+ after hours

Reuters:
Sources: ByteDance prefers a TikTok shutdown in the US rather than a sale if legal options fail, deeming TikTok's algorithm as core to overall ByteDance systems

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